Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to surgical instruments, and more particularly to positioning of surgical instruments.
Description of Related Art
Surgical systems, such as those employed for minimally invasive medical procedures, can include large and complex equipment to precisely control and drive relatively small tools or instruments. FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a known teleoperated controlled system 100. System 100, which may, for example, be part of a da Vinci® Surgical System commercialized by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., includes a patient-side cart 110 having multiple arms 130. Each arm 130 has a docking port 140 that generally includes a drive system with a mechanical interface for mounting and providing mechanical power for operation of an instrument 150. Arms 130 can be used during a medical procedure to move and position respective medical instruments 150 for the procedure.
FIG. 1B shows a bottom view of a known instrument 150. Instrument 150 generally includes a transmission or backend mechanism 152, a main tube 154 extending from the backend mechanism 152, and a functional tip 156 at the distal end of main tube 154. Tip 156 generally includes a medical tool such as scissors, forceps, or a cauterizing instrument that can be used during a medical procedure. Drive cables or tendons 155 are connected to tip 156 and extend through main tube 154 to backend mechanism 152. Backend mechanism 152 typically provides a mechanical coupling between the drive tendons 155 of instrument 150 and motorized axes of the mechanical interface of a docking port 140. In particular, gears or disks 153 engage features on the mechanical interface of a docking port 140. Instruments 150 of system 100 can be interchanged by removing one instrument 150 from docking port 140 and then installing another instrument 150 in place of the instrument removed.